Uniforms in schools do not raise grades, stop truancies, end school bullying, do the kids homework for them, or keep them from doing drugs.

Explain how a shirt from Lands End for $22.95 (and a sewn on logo for $5) is cheaper and "safer" than a Target shirt for $6.00?

Banning jeans in school, suspending kids for sandals, and expelling students for having their ears pierced twice will NOT raise school comraderie. The world will not end if you keep a minimal set of necessary rules & leave it at that.

Am I an advocate for a blue & green mohawk, showing your boxers out of your pants, or cursewords, alcohol & tobacco on products? Absolutely not. I just want t bring common sense to school & not have hundreds of parents called or have students' time wasted over color of clothes.

LT2LV Scribble on a white tablet:

"Every month we'd have "casual day", where whatever class wanted to raise money for a trip or dance would have us pay $1 to let us wear our own clothes."

Here's a question then.

If uniforms are God's gift to education, then why is it such a privilege to have a "casual day" and not wear them in class?

Did test scores go down for the day?

Were there many fight outbreaks, truancies, write ups, or drug use that day?

Did the gang members decide this was a good day to go to school? Were they able to recruit more members by showing their clothing choices?

I am guessing none of this happened that day.

When you lose a freedom, it's almost impossible to get it back.

Like I stated, you can still have a school for "all kids wearing glasses", another one for "all redheaded kids" and yet another one for "kids with funny names", yet kids will still get teased! About being the same, kids with uniforms still get dropped off by limos (There ARE celebrities in Vegas).

Did I not mention about reasonable dress rules? Showing privates and undergarments I think we can both agree with. All the other stuff you bring up is debatable. However, I will stand up and say if my son wear a black and yellow striped shirt, a pair of jeans (with a belt, worn correctly), and decent sneakers, this will not change anyone's learning process.

Instead of telling kids they can only wear ONE kind of clothes or else they are not fit for learning, we need to be teaching acceptance of others.

What happens when a "gang" decides that a white shirt and khaki pants are the new gang colors? Why not just have the kids just come in naked? This will solve your hidden knife crisis.

Also, some schools are in rural Nevada. A school in Battle Mountain might have 29 high school students. The same rules should apply there as well?

With the thin sandals, do you measure loafers too? Some of them are just as thin as some sandals. We've seen kids get suspended for sandals-because they did not wear socks with them? Teaching fashion faux pas?

How about instead of putting yourself on a pedestal because you happen to love the uniforms (I'll try to confirm that the Senator mails you a Christmas card)...do some of the research others have done? It's obvious you feel an article of clothing will solve all the school's problems (even though I think the budget cuts are MUCH more important of an issue). Just because you are a teacher does not automatically make you the subject matter expert on my kids.

If you love uniforms good for you. We in America are taught we have freedom. Simply picking on me for not liking uniforms does not make you a better person. Bill Gates does not wear a uniform to work. Would he be even richer if he had to wear a white shirt and black pants?

You guys might want to look up what "Carbon credits" are. This is what we signed up for as Americans.

Clinton also put the finishing touches on creating NAFTA. How's that working out?

So Cmon, you did not understand my post.
When school districts make MANDATORY school uniforms, a school uniform supplier is found. This takes away the decision on where to buy your clothes. Lands End is a major company involed in school uniforms. Take a look at their prices.

I agree with you Wal mart sells those things. That was my exact point.

So, now I need to "get a life" because I do not believe that we should just be sheep and roll over because some lawmaker wants to ram something down our throats without public discussion? How is that American?

BTW, my kids go to a public school. They are not required to wear a (non stained) white shirt with tan or black slacks.

There are no studies that show white capri pants or blue jeans as a hinderance to education. I wore t shirts almost every day. My daughter wearing a striped collared shirt or a dress with two colors on it will not stop her from learning where China is on a map. My kids wearing sandals will not keep them from learning the square root of 12.

Yes, teacher should do basic dress rule checks. A school should basically have "No privates showing", "No alcohol, gambling, or drugs on shirts", "No exposed belly buttons", etc. Rules like that are easily enforced. The more petty rules, the more teachers have to walk around and inspect. The last thing a school should be doing is measuring belt buckles. Doesn't happen? Then check this link:
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/082...

If you love uniforms, good for you. Sen Coffin will mail you a Christmas card. He loves you.

Before telling someone to "get a life", perhaps you should take a break from King of the Hill reruns or Flavor of Love and do some homework before commenting. Check out sites like pedolgroup.com, aprod.org, or even a simple Yahoo search of all the hassles parents and teachers have had over uniforms.

Maybe you bleat in your sleep. However, I do not.

Hundreds of people have died this year due to being tasered at 50,000 volts.

It is against laws for a doctor to say a taser killed someone. If they due, they gets sued.

Need proof? http://techdirt.com/articles/20080504/22...

Now, due to great success, the Taser is now set at 75,000 volts in many cities.

Thank you, teacher, for taking my side on this. I am the one that wrote the article.

There's a really good website called People Ending Discrimination On Looks (www.pedolgroup.com) aimed at promoting individualism. There are articles on there against school uniforms. The group needs more anti-uniform people in it to make this even more effective. Sign in!

The focus should be to end school bullying. This makes the school faculty the bullies.

I did some research on the cost. Some school districts make parents buy kids from only one or two places. So, instead of paying $8.22 for a shirt from Target, you will have to pay $21.95 from a company like Land's End. Also, you will have to pay $5-$7 extra for the embroidered school logo. Please explain how this is cheaper?

Btw, we need to contact Sen Coffin's office and let him know we do not approve of this debacle. He needs to put this idea in a coffin!

Azsk8fan,

As I stated previously, a school uniform WILL be more expensive than regular clothes.

Thanks to RickHLV, my first point was already proven.

The second point is, when school districts & cities go to mandatory uniforms (with no opt out), they usually have only one or two uniform companies where the kids can buy clothes from.

This means that instead of buying a shirt from Target for $8.44, or a shirt from Savers for $2.99, you MUST pay $21.95 for a student's shirt from Land's End! Not to mention if they require the logo embroidered on the shirt (another $5-$7 each. You think the school's don't check where you bought them from? Think again! Kids DO get sent home for "Non-compliant brand shirt" - even though the shirt looks exactly the same as the others!

www.aprod.org and www.pedolgroup.com are just two great examples of how mandatory school uniforms do not work.

I find this APPALLING that this man would go to great lengths to make a bad situation even worse.

Please tell us how an article of clothing will stop truancy, raise test scores, make kids more focused, or do their homework more often?

Clothing is not the issue in schools. Kids will still get teased for having glasses, different hair, freckles, height, weight, speech impediment, a gap in their teeth, or something even as trivial as their name. All this has been shown on a website called People Ending Discrimination On Looks
( http://www.pedolgroup.com )

Maybe if the school budgets weren't being slashed more frequently than a Linens N Things Going Out Of Business sale, we would have more morale in schools. It's quite difficult to have extra pep in your step when you realize that nobody is doing anything to help you.

You can slap a uniform on a piece of coal. You still have a piece of coal.